Wit makes closer Koji Uehara a clubhouse hit

Comic relief

Credit: Christopher Evans

Koji Uehara’s historic dominance is really only half the fun. We all know how amazingly the right-hander has transformed the uncertainty of a closerless ninth into a sure thing.

But Uehara has been one of a kind in the clubhouse, too, seamlessly integrating into a roster with only one other Japanese player — pitcher Junichi Tazawa — on the strength of an infectious personality and off-the-wall sense of humor.

English? Barely necessary, because Uehara picks his spots like a Venus flytrap. The media has gotten little tastes of it all season, whether it’s Uehara deadpanning, “I’m not popular in Japan,” saying, “No thank you,” when asked if he’d be available to close on consecutive nights, or responding to Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s contention that “he owes me a watch” by saying, “I want him to get me something.”

With his teammates, however, Uehara takes it to another level.

“He’s a character,” said reliever Andrew Miller. “He’s a blast to be around.”

We’ve all seen the high-five gauntlet that once caught outfielder Shane Victorino unawares, not to mention squarely in the chest, in Chicago. “He kung fu chopped me,” Victorino said. “I (almost) whupped his ass.”

Anecdotes abound.

Take a 9-8 victory over the Yankees on Sept. 5, a game notable for three reasons: the Red Sox blowing a 7-2 lead in the seventh inning, Stephen Drew tying it off the incomparable Mariano Rivera with two outs in the ninth and Victorino’s winning single in the 10th.

Red Sox players were still buzzing about the comeback in the victorious clubhouse when Uehara burst in.

“Save for Koji!” he screamed. “Koji got the save! Koji save the game!”

Every player to recount the tale yesterday burst into laughter.

“Nobody was talking about the save,” Victorino said. “Everyone was talking about the comeback. But that’s Koji. He knows the right moments, which makes it more funny, like, ‘Koji, you’re too much.’ ”

Added Nava: “Everyone was just losing it. It was the timing. You’re taking your jersey off and you hear someone say that and everyone’s just like, ‘Yeah!’ ”

Nava lauds Uehara for not being cowed into shyness by fears he’ll mangle his second language.

“He doesn’t care about the language barrier, which is different than most guys coming here,” Nava said. “He doesn’t care. He has so much fun with the fact that, ‘I don’t know much English, but what I do know I’m going to have fun with.’ ”

Rookie reliever Brandon Workman noted that Uehara is the master of interjecting a perfectly timed rejoinder.

“You don’t think he understands and then he jumps in with something hilarious,” Workman said. “He probably speaks better English than I do.”

Much of Uehara’s shtick revolves around his age (38) and general creakiness.

“He can play to the crowd,” noted reliever Craig Breslow. When the bullpen phone rings, he might stare and say, “No. Too tired. No pitch.”

The reality, of course, is that Uehara has answered the bell repeatedly, making nine multi-inning appearances and 15 without rest.

“He may joke that he’s old, but at that point he’s already told John (Farrell) he can pitch,” Miller said. “He has pitched a lot for a 20-year-old, let alone how many miles he’s got and how long he’s been doing it.”

One of Uehara’s specialties is catching home runs in the Fenway bullpen, and a couple stand out. In April, he snagged Nava’s go-ahead, two-run shot against Kansas City and leaped like he had just clinched the World Series.

“I knew he was in the vicinity, but I didn’t see it until the replay,” Nava said. “When I saw his response, oh man.

“As we’ve come to know, the emotion that he plays with is almost a childlike fun that’s contagious.”

Even better was Mike Carp’s blast against Texas in June. Uehara charged like Jacoby Ellsbury, caught the ball, and thrust both arms over his head while Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz flipped into the bullpen.

“It was comical,” said Miller. “I’ve never seen that before. I’ve never seen a guy in the bullpen competing for a ball with another guy tumbling over the fence. Koji caught the ball and turned his back to celebrate. He had no idea Cruz was flipping over the wall and landing on his head.

“They’re the opponent, but you still don’t want a guy to fall on his head. You’ll try to grab him, but you don’t want to get hurt trying to save someone on the other team, so there are all these competing dynamics going on . . . and Koji has no idea. He’s just celebrating that he just caught the home run ball.”

It’s all part of Koji the character. As much as the Red Sox love watching him pitch, the before and after is pretty damn entertaining, too.